South Florida Crime

TAMPA (CBSMiami/AP) – Police are looking for answers after a man was shot to death while he was on the phone with 911 dispatchers.

After leaving a store in Tampa, Fred William Turner Jr. from Orlando noticed a car was following him on Interstate 4, according to Hillsborough County officials.

Turner reached for his phone and called 911 where he was then transferred to the Florida Highway Patrol and the Sheriff’s Office, said a sheriff’s office statement.

While on the phone with dispatchers, Turner, 47, told them that the driver had pulled up beside him and someone inside the car took out what appeared to be a semi-automatic gun, said officials. When asked, Turner said he didn’t know why he was being followed.

As the operator told him to stay on the line there were sounds of gunfire, according to the county’s sheriff’s office.

Witnesses told investigators that Turner then pulled off the roadway and the subject fled. Turner died at the scene.

The only description of the subject’s vehicle that police received was that of a gray newer model Taurus with tinted windows. It was not known how many people were in the vehicle at the time of the shooting.

The 911 calls will not be released as authorities continue to investigate the cause of the shooting, a sheriff’s office statement said.